Isaiah 10 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Isa 10:1Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,

Isa 10:2to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

Isa 10:3

Isa 10:3What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?

Isa 10:4

Isa 10:4Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

Isa 10:5

Isa 10:5Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!

Isa 10:6

Isa 10:6Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Isa 10:7

Isa 10:7But he does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;

Isa 10:8

Isa 10:8for he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?

Isa 10:9

Isa 10:9Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?

Isa 10:10

Isa 10:10As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

Isa 10:11

Isa 10:11shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

Isa 10:12

Isa 10:12When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he[fn] will punish the speech[fn] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

Isa 10:13

Isa 10:13For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

Isa 10:14

Isa 10:14My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”

Isa 10:15

Isa 10:15Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

Isa 10:16

Isa 10:16Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.

Isa 10:17

Isa 10:17The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.

Isa 10:18

Isa 10:18The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
the LORD will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

Isa 10:19

Isa 10:19The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

Isa 10:20

Isa 10:20In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Isa 10:21

Isa 10:21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

Isa 10:22

Isa 10:22For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

Isa 10:23

Isa 10:23For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

Isa 10:24

Isa 10:24Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did.

Isa 10:25

Isa 10:25For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.

Isa 10:26

Isa 10:26And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.

Isa 10:27

Isa 10:27And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”[fn]

Isa 10:28

Isa 10:28He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron;
at Michmash he stores his baggage;

Isa 10:29

Isa 10:29they have crossed over the pass;
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.

Isa 10:30

Isa 10:30Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Give attention, O Laishah!
O poor Anathoth!

Isa 10:31

Isa 10:31Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

Isa 10:32

Isa 10:32This very day he will halt at Nob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.

Isa 10:33

Isa 10:33Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.

Isa 10:34

Isa 10:34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(10:12)

Hebrew I

(10:12)

Hebrew fruit

(10:27)

The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.